The Camera

The central piece of video equipment is of course the camera. If you are considering buying a camcorder, you can get certain features that are advantageous for shooting sex. One feature is image stabilization. This helps reduce the jitteryness of the image when the camera is handheld (which I recommend , see below). Optical image stabilization uses a movable prism in the lens, and is better than electronic image stabilization which reduces the overall picture quality. Electronic stabilization also makes it hard to do camera moves, because it "sticks" on the image and jerks away rather than moving smoothly with the camera. Mechanical stabilizers with arms and weights work well when you practice with them, but they are in the way when you want to get in close to people or shoot straight downwards or between legs or right at the level of the bed etc., so I do not recommend those for this kind of shooting.

You should get a camera with good wide-angle coverage in the zoom lens or get a wide angle adapter to screw onto the existing lens to make the field of view as wide as possible without distortion. This also helps you when hand holding the camera, because small jitters are less visible in extreme wide angle. Be sure that the wide angle adapter doesn't cut off the corners of the image when the camera is zoomed out all the way, as cheap ones can. Test before you buy. The camera should be able to produce a good image in relatively low light, as you may not want to blast all your scenes with movie lights. You should get a camera that lets you control the exposure and focus manually, so you aren't at the mercy of the camera's automatic misjudgment.

Image quality is a you-get-what-you-pay-for item, with the best and highest priced cameras featuring three image chips instead of one (which really makes a huge difference in color and resolution). Some consumer cameras now record in a digital format, which reproduces perfectly what was recorded on it and reduces noise and other problems associated with the usual ways of recording video. This also makes it possible to transfer high quality images into your computer through a relatively cheap add-on card, as opposed to a more expensive card with high quality video inputs. More about editing later.

I do not like tripods for shooting sex. If you are shooting something that doesn't move, like a landscape, a tripod is appropriate because it doesn't move either. When shooting people that move in unplanned ways, they will either have to arrange themselves just right in front of the tripod-mounted camera, or you will have to remove it from the tripod and go after them. I have seen too many hot amateur scenes made static and distant by the unmoving aloofness of the stationary camera, or by the actors' knowledge that they had better only do what the camera can see. Almost all professional porno sex scenes are now shot hand held, because that puts you right in the scene. The permission to do this came from the amateur video phenomenon via some innovative directors (of porno and mainstream movies and TV) who saw the potential of greater visual impact. To some extent this style became hackneyed, as when the camera operator would wiggle the camera around, simulating amateurish handheld operation to get "that honest feel" or to make a talking head somehow visually stimulating. Still, handheld camera allows you to shoot from the best angle you can, while making the viewer feel like they are right in the middle of everything. It makes most of the earlier porno scenes seem visually boring by comparison.